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About 2010

In my notebook for today's paper, I addressed the Wizards salary cap situation going forward with a particular eye on the summer of 2010 when a slew of big name free agents are expected to hit the market including the Traveling One, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Keep in mind that the $60.73 million cap figure for 2010-2011 includes team options on NIck Young, JaVale McGee and Oleksiy Pecherov and Darius Songaila's player option which is hard to imagine him not picking up. Also, expect the Wizards to try and sign Haywood to an extension before he hits free agency.

Comments

Yo Ivan. When you go to practice tommorrow. Can you do us a favor and ask Eddie two questions?

1/ Why did he use Songalia at the 5 spot almost the whole half when he had McGee, AB, and Etan sitting on the bench?

2/ Why do you have to double the ball EVERY possession? Do you have to sag the middle? Can you just play simple man on man defense to contest wide open jumpers vs. releying on defensive rotations out on the primeter?

Posted by: BulletsFever | November 23, 2008 3:40 PM

So why should Les BouleS and Les BouleS fans care about who's going to be available 2011-2012 when the resigning of max money Gilby and Abe favorite AJ was supposed to be the end all be all in propelling them deep into the playoffs and championship glory?

I guess that be a rhetorical question...

LMFAO!

Posted by: DC_MAN88 | November 23, 2008 5:55 PM

Kalo Ramo...
I can not let your reply to my criricism pass unnoticed...

"Small ball is supposed to be a fast and aggressive lineup. It should be a solid defensive corps, with fast feet and shooting skills...did I miss something Kal?"

"I can only assume you've missed all kinds of things, judging by the lack of logic in that statement.

Teams don't go to small ball for defense. That's complete nonsense. They go to smallball to up the pace of the offense and turn the game into a shotmaking contest. You have heard of Mike D'antoni right? Current coach of the Knicks? Used to coach a little team called the Phoenix Suns?

D'Antoni's Suns started Amare Stoudemire (a defensively challenged PF) at C, 6'7" Shawn Marion at PF, and 6'5" Raja Bell at SF. Do you really think he did it because he wanted more defense? Have you ever seen a D'Antoni coached team play? His M.O. is to get up as many shots as quickly as possible, defense be damned. It's what the Suns did and it's what the Knicks were doing. Jordan went small to try and match offensive output.

Going big and forcing the other team to adjust is a great idea in theory. in practice, it only works if you have the kinds of bigs with the kinds of offensive skills that the other team has to pay attention to. The Wizards don't. Once the Knicks turned it into a streetball game, having guys on the floor who can't make shots became a liability.

As for "shooting skills" ... my point exactly. McGee doesn't have any. Songaila does. Jordan went with him because he gave a better chance to get good shot attempts on the offensive end in helter skelter game than McGee or McGuire, who are offensively challenged (to put it charitably)."
Kalo , perhaps you have not heard of " small ball" as a defensive set.
Perhaps you have not seen smaller lineups, use speed and skill, to over come deficiencies with "pressing defense" for one to speed up the game, and to force the more talented taller team out of "sets"???
Thta is when "small ball" is utilized and often effective.
This will never happen when you sacrifice size and athletic skills (McGhee?) for slow footed, physicalluy challenged, non leapers, and slow reactors like ASongalia.
Yes he can shoot an uncontested jumper, but that is a formula for a tall lineup, in half court sets, after moving tha ball. Also something the Wiz under EJ fail to do,, unless you refer to that 10 second weave on the perimeter.
Our bigs are not bulky, but can move and should be utilized with more aggressive defense, not passive collapse inside style.
It all comes down to flawed schemes on o and d, that fall directly in the lap of one EJ.
He is pathetic, and unless Abe moves on, we are stuck with him, for now. But please do not defend his coaching, as the results speak for themselves.
Losing to the woeful Knicks with 7 players, no center, and only outside shooters.
We have had a creampuff shedule, and have zero to show for it...

Posted by: maxman2162 | November 23, 2008 7:22 PM

Time to try something different.
Why get across midcourt with 18 sec. then weave for 10 sec. then throw up a 20 footer then get back on d then repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. Under the best scenario lose by 10 and say we played hard. If no one else hasn't noticed -----

THIS AIN"T WORKING".

Sumptin gotta change.
If we can't beat the undermanned Knicks who we gonna beat?
If I was GA & BH I'd not be done rehabbing til next season.

Posted by: VBFan | November 23, 2008 7:47 PM

yo ivan we need a trade a blockbuster trade anybody out there you have in mind. we need change

Posted by: xpoc2 | November 23, 2008 8:15 PM

Exactly, VBFan. What little offense we generate comes off iso plays where either AJ gets it and drives to put up a flip shot, CB yoyos and then shoots a jumper or NY goes solo and shoots a fadeaway.
The 'Princeton offense' probably gets us 20 points a night. This offense mostly consists of a desperation shot after wasting 20 seconds on the clock doing the weave and top of the key handoffs.

change.

Deshawn has been the weakest link statistically on this team for a long time now yet consistently gets 35 minutes a game. I like the fact that he shoots the ball when he's open behind the 3 point line. Unfortunately, he doesn't make enough of them. He should not be starting. PERIOD!

Dee Brown is the definition of D League. Since we don't have a real pg on this team, do we at least have a point forward who can handle the ball? Can we try something else that will enable us to get the weak links off the floor? Juan is a 2, not a 1. Deshawn is a 10, not a 2. (That is, he should be a 10th man on a team and not a starting 2 guard). Nick Young needs to start along with JM.

What happened in this Knick game? We outrebounded them. We shot more ft. We made more ft. We had less turnovers.

The problem was 3 point shooting AGAIN. Our starters were a combined 5-17. DS was 2-10. It shouldn't have happened. He should not have played enough minutes for it to happen. NY should have been in the game. If he fouls out, fine. THEN bring DS in.

The logic of taking guys out of a game with a couple of fouls never seems to amaze me. Coaches take guys out when they have 3 or 4 fouls so that they don't foul out. Yet by taking them out of the game, you're accomplishing the same thing. What difference does it make whether they are on the bench because they fouled out or because the coach is afraid they'll foul out? None. They're still on the bench.
Then we wind up with the game ending with a guy having only 4 fouls yet he played only 20 minutes. Makes more sense to just play him 30 and let him foul out.

I didn't watch this game but I see that NY had 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists in 19 minutes and finished with 4 fouls.

??!!

Posted by: original_mark | November 23, 2008 8:34 PM

Agreed...This team was very poorly put together by Mr. Grunfeld. Anybody that you can see the Wiz being interested in Ivan?

Posted by: Immahomer | November 23, 2008 8:35 PM

The team's real chance for major cap space comes in 2011-2012. Does this mean we shouldn't attend games or renew our season tickets till 2012 when we finally have a team that can win in the playoffs?

What does 2010 matter? Pollin won't spend any money, especially after getting burned on GA's $100 million. The Wiz could have had Mason, who scores and defends, for a little more than they are paying two marginal guys - Dixon and Brown - but didn't want to be a mere $1 - 2 mill over the cap.

Posted by: learnedhand1 | November 23, 2008 9:58 PM

Please, get over it with Mason.

Mason isn't going to put points on the board in the paint or defend in the paint which is what Les BouleS is lacking.

Maxman2162, way to come back hard against that outlandish analogy by Kalo Ramo on why Eddie plays DSon instead of JM in his small ball scheme. Maxman2162, your analogy of small ball is spot on. Your analogy about what small ball is would have D'Antoni drolling at the mouth if he could replace his current group of players with the Wizard players minus ET, DSon, and ET.

Imagine playing real small ball with a 7-Foot center who can run the floor like a gazelle. JM in D'Antoni's scheme would have at least two slams in every quarter.

Why Eddie thinks small ball means small and slow is mind boggling and to have a blogger analyze that to Eddie's favor is just sad.

As Doc Walker would say MaxMan2162, you brought it hard to the mic!!!

LarryInClintonMD.

Posted by: LarryInClintonMD | November 23, 2008 11:12 PM

I agree with DC, Roger Mason rehashing is ridiculous.
His numbers look ok with Santonio as Prker and Ginobli are out for extended time, and Roger is thus getting on average 35 minutes a game.
Does anyone dare think he would be getting more than 15-18 with the Wiz, under the expert tutelage of EJ?
I maintain that every team has at least 10 players, if given court time of 25-35 minutes, would average 18 points at least, with the possible exception of DS, AD, Asong, ET...that is right with the exception of the players that EJ utilizes on a regular basis...
Roger Mason is a good little player, but not and never a game changer. He is no improvement over JD or NY and maybe not more so than even DS.
The Wiz's problem is the coach and owner, and will remain so no matter the make up of this team, and that certainly includes the inevitable return of GA.
My concern is that EG will eventually leave rather than take the heat for decisions that are not of his making.

Posted by: maxman2162 | November 24, 2008 12:31 AM

I agree with 88, too. NY is playing better than RM and is a definite upgrade. The only things we're missing with RM are his abilities to man the point and his willingness to shoot 3's. As average as RM is, he's a better pg than Dee Brown and Juan.

As a counterpoint, though...

If we had RM and benched DS for NY, that would definitely make a difference. RM and NY would add some needed firepower and could be a short term solution til we get all of our players back. Of course, rebounding and second chance points and 3 point fg defense would still be a problem.

Posted by: original_mark | November 24, 2008 7:45 AM

I can understand taking a player out if he picks up two early fouls, but you don't keep him out for the rest of game.

we don't have the smalls needed for small ball.

Posted by: browneri | November 24, 2008 8:28 AM

Deshawn has been the weakest link statistically on this team for a long time now yet consistently gets 35 minutes a game...

Posted by: original_mark | November 23, 2008 8:34 PM

Last week he led the team in apg (5.75) and averaged 9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, and 1 steal. He has reached the 35 mpg mark only twice this season. Better he have the ball than Nick "clown-out" Young down the stretch.